Soultient
by nightmarekitt
Summary: AU. M/M. Johnlock. In a world where your Soul Mate is found by using a mark on your back, a "Soultier", and where anomalies can get you killed, Sherlock is marked a Desoultient from birth. John is at first a Halfsoultient, but when he gets shot in the war becomes a Desoultient. Then, they meet


**.Information about the Soultient Universe.**

For this AU to make sense, please review my notes on the Soultient Universe.

.

The ISD - International Soultier Database - called "international" to mean that many countries, **but not all**, are entered in the database.

Thermogrpahic printers and thermographic paper really do exist. These printers do not use ink but heat to create images on the paper. The images can be printed in over 200 shades of gray, but only sixteen are visible to the human eye.

When children are born, they have a symbol "awakened" on their backs by people called Soulites. The symbol is run through an international database that matches up to one other person on the planet who shares the same mark. Most people [63%] are paired with their Soul Mates at birth, but few have to wait for their mates to be born [29%] or are never mated at all [6%] or have extenuating circumstances such as death before meeting [2%].

Rare conditions in which children are killed/isolated - when their symbols match that of their parents - represents a major mental defect or birth as a result of incest; also when children are touched by a Soulite after birth and have no Soultier whatsoever.

Unsoultier were never scanned and so their soultiers, if they have them, are not visible.

Unsoultient were scanned and do not have soultiers.

Desoultient - stands for "Deviated Soul Tier"; essentially just means that there are anomalies in the Soultier - aka colors or conditions beyond the 16 shades, or people with soultier located in places other than the back. Can occur in traumatic injuries, after death of a Soul Mate, or at birth - indicating insanity or mental deficiency. Desoultients required to wear red banded rings that can be seen at all times. Desoultients who fail to follow this protocol are vulnerable to punitive action.

Halfsoultient Soultiers are so faint that they could not be recorded by thermographic recorders. Halfsoltients are, as regulated by _100 Unchangeable Laws of the Soltient_ treated yearly by a Soulite. In most cases, Halfsoltients' Soultiers appear later in life and are recorded thusly.

Soulite - very rare people who have the ability to awaken Soultiers.

Soultier - the mark

Soul Mate - obvious.

Tier - _noun. _a person or a thing that ties.

_"The Marking Rooms were sacred. There was only one in every hospital, and law had it that once a Marking Room was made, a hospital must be built around it - all the more for procreation. Marking Rooms were the only places in the world where Soulites could draw forth the power of the Earth to awaken Soultiers."_

- from _A History of Soulites_

_"A Soultient is a human being that bares a Soultier. A Soultier is an invisible mark that lives on a human's skin, usually on the back. The Soultier or 'Soul Tier' ties a person to his/her Soul Mate. In all the world, each Soultient's mark can only match one other person's Soultier."_

_-_from _100 Unchangeable Laws of the Soultient_

_"A pure Soultier shall be visible in the 16 shades of gray recognizable to the human eye. Colors other than gray indicate traces of insanity or mental impairment in the Soultient."_

- from _A Psychological Study of Physical Manifestations of the Soultient_

_"For recording of a Soultier, any post-1973 thermographic standard printer and thermographic paper can be used to record a duplicate of a Soultier no later than 24 hours after birth. Three copies are to made, one copy for the International Soultiers Database, one copy to be held at the place of birth [hospital], and one copy to be given to the biological parents or foster parents [if applicable -see 1.2.27 for regulations concerning adopted Soultients]. Copies can be requested from the hospital from Soultient, Soultient's partner by law, or Soultient's 1st relative to be stated on birth certificate."_

- from _Soultient Birth & Related Medical Procedures Vol. II_

_"Halfsoultiers' Soultiers are so faint that they could not be recorded by thermographic recorders. Halfsoultients are, as regulated by _100 Unchangeable Laws of the Soltient _treated yearly by a Soulite until their Soultier matures. In most cases, Halfsoltients' Soultiers appear later in life and are recorded thus."_

- from _Treatment of the Halfsoultient_

_"Sex permanently bonds two Soul Mates with matching Soultiers together. Sex after the bond with any individual who does not bare the same Soultier could result in sickness or death."_

-from _Sex and the Bonding of Soul Mates_

_"Matching Soultiers are mirror images of each other, though they are not always the same size, seeing as they grow over time, as a person does grow."_

-from _The Biological Growth of Soultiers_

_**AU by nightamrekitt**_

I disclaim all rights to the characters themselves and information pertinent to the original BBC Sherlock verse.

The Soultient Verse, however, is mine.

.**Soultient**.

_"A Soultient is a human being that bares a Soultier. A Soultier is an invisible mark that lives on a human's skin, usually on the back. The Soultier or 'Soul Tier' ties a person to his/her Soul Mate. In all the world, each Soultient's mark can only match one other person's Soultier."_

_-_from _100 Unchangeable Laws of the Soultient_

Her breathing was erratic, but the deed was done. Jessica Holmes smiled through ragged breaths at her husband in the corner, as he cradled their newborn son. The Holmes family's personal Soulite, Mrs. Martha Hudson, smiled from next to Siger Holmes and held out her arms expectantly.

"It's time, Siger. I must awaken his Soultier before you can give him to her. You know how this works. If he spends too much time with either of you before he is marked, then his mark is sure to take on the same form as your Soultiers. We wouldn't want that."

Siger reluctantly passed the softly crying infant to the old woman. She accepted the baby with a warm smile, cradingly him gently, and intoned, "You can come with me to the Marking Room, if you wish, Siger. We'll return shortly, Jessica."

The exhausted mother smiled through tears of joy and pain as Mrs. Hudson led her husband to the Marking Room.

Jessica Holmes watched them go. She was as plain as they come, with a round face and dark hair. She was rather short and certainly ordinary, but her bright blue eyes shone with the light of undying curiosity. The doctors and nurses had all grown attached to the woman's gentle nature, and fussed affectionately as they cleaned her up and had her situated in a fresh bed.

"What do you plan to name him, Miss?" asked a nurse.

"Sherlock," Jessica replied with a grin. "Sherlock Holmes."

"Oh, what an usual name!"

"From one who knows the irritation of having such a common, boring name, perhaps it is not so unusual."

"I've known more than a handful of Jessicas in my time, that's to be sure," the nurse said around a chuckle. "I can see the logic in that! Does the boy have any siblings?"

"One, a brother named Mycroft. He's nearly seven now. Mycroft is very clever, just like his father. Sherlock's bound to be just as clever, no doubt."

"He is indeed. You can tell by the eyes - did you see? They were silver, I swear!"

"Oh, spoilers! Don't tell me yet!" Jessica said around a laugh.

"And you'll know his match soon," the nurse went on to say. "His special person."

"A Soulmate," the mother said wistfully. "Oh, I hope it's someone nice."

"Sure to be! What with him being a Holmes and all. Does your first boy have a nice match, then?"

"Oh yes - an adorable boy by the name of Greg."

"A boy?" the nurse giggled. "Well, I hope little Sherlock gets himself a nice girl. You'll be wanting grandkids, after all."

Jessica snorted and rolled her eyes. "There are far too many Holmeses running about already. I'll be happy so long as he's happy."

"Well, the best of luck to you, Mrs. Holmes."

"Thank you, dear."

.**Soultient**.

_"The Marking Rooms were sacred. There was only one in every hospital, and law had it that once a Marking Room was made, a hospital must be built around it - all the more for procreation. Marking Rooms were the only places in the world where Soulites could draw forth the power of the Earth to awaken Soultiers."_

- from _A History of Soulites_

Sherlock was quiet by the time they arrived at the Marking Room. Siger was nervous. Mrs. Hudson wasn't worried at all. She laughed at Siger's anxiety. "You poor fool. Not to worry, I'm sure little Shelrock's Soultier will be beautiful."

"But my family, Mrs. Hudson! Do you know how many of my cousins bore unmarked children? Two just last year! It comes with this sort of intelligence, you see, the madness."

"It will all be fine, Siger. Stop fussing. Here now, check us in."

Siger Holmes quickly filled out the paperwork handed to him by the nurse on duty. She then allowed them into the Marking Room, which was fortunately vacant.

"Oh good, they remembered the thermograph kit this time," Mrs. Hudson remarked as she laid Sherlock face-down on a padded table next to a large piece of white paper and a big blue printer. There was a gaping chasm in the middle of the room. It looked much like a midieval well.

"You can stand next to the table, Siger," she instructed. "Watch the baby, but don't touch."

Siger repositioned himself as Mrs. Hudson moved to stand over the well. She raised her hands, and her purple robes flowed around her thin body. A sliver of purple light rose from the chasm and wrapped around her right hand. She then moved back to the table and pressed her glowing hand against Sherlock's naked back.

Siger sucked in a sharp breath when a symbol appeared on his son's back. It took nearly a minute to complete the process, but when she was done, a complex design comprised of diamonds and intricate spirals glowed silver on his skin.

Mrs. Hudson tutted as she carefully lifted Sherlock's pliant form and moved him over the blank paper. She pressed his back against it and let go a sigh of relief.

"See there," she turned to Siger with a smile. "All is well, love. Oh...why are you so pale?"

"You didn't..._100 Unchangeable Laws of the Soultient _states that children marked with Soultiers that go beyond the standard 16 Shades of Gray are to be registered as mentally deficient."

"But...the Soultier glowed silver, as it always does."

"I saw blue."

Her eyes widened. "You're certain."

He nodded sharply.

"Mycroft's was a standard Soultier, and yours and Jessica's are perefectly normal. You're sure you weren't imagining things?"

"I guess we'll find out. Is he done?"

Mrs. Hudson turned back to the silver-eyed boy. "It's been a minute," she said quietly, and lifted the boy off of the paper. The design had imprinted onto the thermographic paper in crisp shades of gray, but that was the point of the paper - it could only reproduce shades of gray.

Hrs. Hudson leaned Sherlock against her chest, his back turned to his father, and she watched Siger's eyes go cold.

"Disaster," he hissed, walking forward to traces the twisting lines of blue and yellow that twined through the gray shapes on his son's back.

"Oh, Siger," Mrs. Hudson whispered sadly. "I'm sorry."

"You still need to register him," Siger whispered, taking Sherlock from the Soulite's arms.

"You know the chances of him having a mate now are...so very small," she warned gently. "There are blankets in that cabinet. Cover him up while I register him. We'll need pictures now, too."

"Yes, of course," Siger replied flatly. He went to retrieve a blanket, whispered comfortingly to his son. "You're perfect, Sherlock. No matter what anyone says from this day forth. You are perfect."

Mrs. Hudson went about making copies of Sherlock's Soultier with the thermographic printer. She was done in less than 10 minutes.

"They'll give you a copy when you sign his birth certificate. I brought the camera. It will take a bit longer to register him now, but...well." The poor woman seemed so disconcerted by the boy's unsual Soultier.

"It's fine, Mrs. Hudson. Let's get the pictures over with. I need to go tell Jessica."

**.Soultient.**

_Halfsoultiers' Soultiers are so faint that they could not be recorded by thermographic recorders. Halfsoultients are, as regulated by _100 Unchangeable Laws of the Soultient _treated yearly by a Soulite until their Soultier fully matures. In most cases, Halfsoultients' Soultiers appear later in life and are recorded thus."_

- from _Medical Treatment of the Halfsoultient_

John Watson was Halfsoultient. The word "halfsoultient" didn't really mean much to him until he turned sixteen. Sixteen was generally the age when Soul Mates were allowed to have romantic engagements. The Soulites at the hospital told John that at the rate that his Soultier was darkening that it wouldn't fully mature until he turned 40 and not be recordable until he turned 30.

When he was sixteen, in the midst of puberty, he watched as most of his friends fell madly in love with their Soul Mates, and spent most of their time in blissful happiness. That same year, he saw his twelve-year-old sister meet her Soul Mate for the first time, and watched his parents' overwhelming happiness at the prospect of their youngest daughter meeting her perfect match.

John felt alienated at sixteen, which is why, at twenty-three and after Uni and a brief study at Barts, he left to join the army.

The army was very well suited for people like John Watson. About half of the army were Soultient with Soul Mates; the rest were Soultients without Soul Mates or Halfsoultients. There wasn't much romance going on in the army, but plenty of sex for the unmated, which suited John just fine. A war was no place for romantic entanglements anyway.

It was when he was shot that his life took a turn for the worse. The bullet pierced his left shoulder, went all the way through. He might not have been medically discharged, until they discovered that the shot had accelerated his Soultier's progress.

John remembered clearly, after the surgery and being stuck in a hospital bed for weeks, the utter despair that overtook him when one of the corpsman changing his bandages had glimpsed his pale Soultier, now sporting pale, twisting lines of blue. The corpsman fetched the doctor in charge, John's former subordinate, who explained softly to a very confused John what was going on.

"Captain, you're a doctor, one of ours. You know this condition, as rare as it is, is entirely possible. You will have to wear the red ring that marks you as a Desoultier, and you will be registered in the ISD as a Desoultier-Halfsoultient, until your Soultier reaches maturity - then you be regsistered simply as a Desoultier."

"A Desoultier?!" John shouted, suddenly brimming with anger. "I'll never find a job again, a home - _nothing! _ You can't do this to me because I got shot in the line of duty! It's not fair!"

"I'm sorry, sir. There's nothing more that we can do. You will be discharged and flown back to London, free of charge, but as of today, you are a Desoultier."

**.Soultient.**

_"Matching Soultiers are mirror images of each other, though they are not always the same size. They grow over time, as a person does grow."_

-from _The Biology of Soultiers_

Being a Desoultient-Halfsoultient was even worse than being Halfsoultient. John especially resented the red ring on his finger that marked him as a Desoultient for everyone to see. He still felt alienated from most of society, as he had as a Halfsoultient, and he was vulnerable to ridicule no matter when he turned, but mostly in the face of job interviews. Those were, unfortunately, making his life hell.

For most jobs, whether inside or separate from his field, he was not even considered for. The one interview that he did get was so offensive that he didn't even bother to stay for the whole affair. His potential employers only wanted to question him on his opinions of Desoultients in society, completely ignoring the fact that he was a former Halfsoultient and that his "deviation" had been brought out thanks to an injury he had obtained for Queen and Country.

When John ran into Mike Stamford in the park, he was stressed for a hundred reasons, all of them having to do with the fact that he was now a Desoultient. Mike Stamford, bless the man, didn't seemed bothered by the fact that his old friend was considered a deviant of society. When John brought up one of his many reasons for being stressed - his need for a place to stay - he wasn't expecting Mike to have an answer for him.

John also wasn't expecting Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock had barely spared John a glance at Barts before he spat out the question: "Afghanistan or Iraq?"

"Afghanistan...how..?"

And then came the rest: army doctor, pshycosomatic limp, in need of a place to stay. John was struck dumb by how brilliant this man was. They met later at 221B, and when Sherlock came back to ask John if he wanted to come along for a case, the mad man also walked forward and did the unthinkable.

"Give me your hand," he ordered.

"What?" John blanched, but was already lifting his right hand to place it in Sherlock's. John watched, mouth dry, as Sherlock Holmes carefully slid the red band off of John's index finger, dropped it on the floor, and smashed it flat with one quick drop of his shoe. It was only plastic, after all.

"It will be our secret," Sherlock murmured, "and stop putting 'Desoultient' on your resumes, for God's sake. You'll never get a job that way. No one is going to think that you're a Desoultient otherwise."

"It...really doesn't bother you?" John asked quietly, feeling a bit lost.

"No," Sherlock admitted. "Not at all. Now come on! The game is on!" He practically rushed out the door with John in tow, and from that day on John Watson's life was changed forever.

**.Soultient.**

It wasn't until the bit after the pool incident with Jim Moriarty that John learned why Sherlock was so accepting of John's "Desoultient" status.

"I never asked you," John said the day after the whole mess, "whether or not you're Soultient. You are, aren't you? Not mated though." He was sitting in his customary chair, nursing a cup of tea, while Sherlock sprawled dramatically - typically - across the couch.

Sherlock made a disgusted noise. "All this Soultient business is absolute rubbish. They put years of science into utilizing the power of souls, and training up Soulites, and then someone accidentally discovers a way to make Soultiers visible. It's all romantic, useless nonsense."

"A complete waste of time," John agreed, purely out of spite for society's stupid rules about Halfsoultients and Desoultients. "But for the sake of curiosity..."

"I'm Desoultient, just like you," Sherlock finally answered.

John stiffened. "You're...really?"

"You know I hate repeating myself."

"Sorry, I just...since when?"

"Since forever. Unlike you, I was born Desoultient."

"What kind of anomaly? Absent bits or-?"

"Colours," Sherlock said quietly.

"Oh."

John was quiet for a while, the curiosity practically making him vibrate in his chair, when Sherlock finally said: "Blue and yellow. What are yours?"

John smirked, but he was visibly shaken for some reason. "Can't you tell?"

"I've no way to determine the colour anomalies from the condition of your shoes, John. I've never actually _seen _your Soultier."

John chuckled and replied nervously, "Ah, blue...and yellow. They're spirals, sort of, very pale though."

"You were Halfsoultient," Sherlock realized. He sat up fully. "Show me."

John snorted. "No."

"Why not?"

"_Because_ it's not exactly something I'm proud of, never really was."

Sherlock stood up, stomped over, and then actually _loomed _over the chair and John.

"I have no Soul Mate. They were never able to locate a match for me, not surprising considering the fact that I am Desoultient, but John..." Sherlock tilted his head to one side. "Surely you can see the irony here. You were Halfsoultient until recently, when you were injured and declared Desoultient. Your Soultier changed dramatically, not enough for matching in the ISD, but enough for someone to be able to look and identify that your Soultier contains colour anomalies...anomalies that in fact, just happen to be the same colours as the ones in mine."

"We can't be - " John started, looking panicked, but Sherlock interrupted.

"We _might_ be."

"You don't want a Soul Mate!" John retorted sharply. "You said so when I first met you. The idea was absolutley abhorrent to you."

"I wouldn't mind, if it were you."

John blushed. "What do you mean?"

"John," Sherlock practically purred. "Soul Mates or not, I am not opposed to the idea of a romantic or sexual relationship with you. If things are to stay the same between us, then that is perfectly fine as well. However, it is your decision to make."

John's throat was dry. He licked his lips, and started to remove his jumper. Sherlock stood back, crossing his arms impatiently until John was shirtless in the chair, his back still hidden.

"Stand up," Sherlock demanded.

John did, looking nervous. "If it doesn't match," he started, "that's no reason to get upset, you know."

Sherlock smiled bitterly. "I know."

John turned around.

Sherlock drew a sharp breath.

John's Soultier was detailed, very detailed, but painfully pale and undefined. It was a bit damaged - the gunshot wound. Sherlock walked forward and gently started tracing the spirals of blue and yellow across John's back. It seemed as his fingers met John's skin, that the lines were becoming darker, stronger.

"Well," John eventually said as chills rose on his skin from Sherlock's curious ministrations. "Do they match?"

Sherlock reply was a broken whisper, "I think...we should have sex."

John started laughing. "What? Is that a yes?"

"_Yes_."

John turned, half gaping at Sherlock with shock. "I...really?"

"You seem to like asking me that question," Sherlock said gently, before pulling John into a passionate kiss. When they parted, John's smile was devious.

"So, time for bed?"

"Oh, God yes!"

.End Chapter.

If you would like to write something in the Soultient Verse - please let me know ahead of time, be sure to credit me in the work, and make sure all of the details are true to the verse [another reason why I included my notes at the beginning of the chapter]


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